Ride Along
by LadyDevilBlessed
Summary: Rufus/Yuffie. Companion story to "Negotiations." Ever wonder about when Rufus introduced Yuffie to chocobos in Chapter 4? Read on, dear reader.


Ride Along

A FF7 Yuffie/Rufus fanfic

Disclaimer: Characters and locations owned by Square-Enix. No suing! Thanks.

Author's note: A companion story to "Negotiations" (Chapter 4). Set when Yuffie is 8 and Rufus is 17. A longer interlude about when Rufus first introduces Yuffie to chocobos.

* * *

It was huge and terrifying and absolutely worse than anything she had seen before in her young life. It was worse than Leviathan's drowning wrath, more dreadful than Gorky's jokes, more awe-inspiring than the sunsets over Da Chao himself.

"It" was a chocobo.

With its blinking gigantic eyes, twitching erratically head, Yuffie Kisaragi had no idea what to think about the large bird. She prided herself in thinking she was a great ninja of her people, but deep inside, staring into the gaping abyss blinking in front of her, she knew she had a lot to overcome before she could truly accept that title.

"What is your problem?"

A haughty voice sneered above her. Yuffie didn't have to turn to know that Rufus Shinra was tossing a strand of hair back out of his eyes. He rarely seemed to do anything else. And besides, there were more pressing matters at hand. Namely, the chocobo that looked like it would eat her alive.

"You've never seen a chocobo before, shortie?" With nonchalance, Rufus entered Yuffie's line of sight, dressed in dreadful white slacks and jacket, as usual, and slung his arm over the neck of the bird. "Don't worry, Princess. Chocobos are vegetarian. You know what that means, right?"

Yuffie glared at the teen boy. She hated that she had to see him at all. Dinner the night before was bad enough. Her leg still hurt from where he kicked her under the table.

"I've seen birds that don't eat meat still tear apart other animals to defend themselves. Like humans, sometimes animals can injure others without the purpose of eating." Yuffie spoke determinedly. Her lessons in Midgar culture and language took precedence over her other lessons for the past few months. It was the first time Godo brought his daughter to Midgar and he wanted to have her presentable. Still, her Wutaian accent slipped through and she saw the smirk grow on Rufus' face.

"Young sir," a man in a suit walked up to the children. "We need to depart soon or we will not be able to finish the survey in the daylight."

"Very well, Mr. Sanders. Let us be off," Rufus gave one last disdainful look at the scrawny girl as she bravely fought from cowering away from the gigantic bird. As he turned to gather his own steed, he gave one startling slap on the rump of the chocobo, eliciting sounds of alarm from both bird and girl.

With a wark of surprise, the chocobo instinctively moved away from the source of the pain. Unfortunately for Yuffie, it meant that the giant bird came charging at her.

Yelping, her instincts kicked in and she managed to make a sliding dive to the side. The chocobo's feet barely clipped Yuffie's hip as it blasted over her, but with her small size, she still rolled a few feet from the impact. There was a brief scramble as the ShinRa Company officers wrangled the chocobo before it could run off into the fields.

Coughing from the dust, Yuffie struggled to sit up, knowing that Rufus was silently judging her. It was best to get up and put on a brave face before he started judging her verbally.

"Ow," her Wutainan slipped out as she put her hand to brace herself. Rocks and dirt were embedded in her palm where she fell. Wincing, Yuffie brushed off her hands and was glad to see the minimal amount of blood.

"How bad is it?"

Go figure he wasn't going to apologize. But at least she knew he felt responsible.

"Nothing I can't handle," Yuffie squeezed her eyes shut and focused. A green warmth surrounded her and then the cool balm of her low-level cure spell relieved her pain.

"Give it to me. You aren't allowed to have Materia," Rufus was holding out his hand and it was not out of kindness.

"It's not even equipped to anything. And it's the last thing I have from my mother," Yuffie clutched the gem that she kept in a pouch around her neck. She had instinctively cast the spell, completely forgetting where she was, and more importantly, who she was with.

"Hand it over, or we will take it," Rufus' eyes were steel hard and it made Yuffie want to throw dirt into them.

They glared at each other until Mr. Sanders cleared his throat. They were behind schedule now. Yuffie's eyes flicked over to the crew of men surrounding her. She didn't even have a chance to win this fight, so, with great remorse, she removed the pouch from her neck and held it out to Rufus.

Snatching it from her hands, the teen pocketed the materia and turned for the chocobo Mr. Sanders held for him.

"Get on the bird, Princess. We aren't waiting for you anymore."

From her position on the ground, for she hadn't even attempted to rise, Yuffie silently mimed Rufus' tone behind his back. But knowing that he really would leave her outside the gigantic doors to the city, Yuffie stood. And then promptly fell down with a more started cry of pain than when she first dove from the chocobo.

With a sigh that denoted his annoyance, Rufus turned, believing that Yuffie was faking it. He saw her clutching her ankle and he rolled his eyes. He didn't mind leaving her behind. The little twerp was annoying even when she was an ocean away, it was worse by tenfold when he actually had to see her.

His foot was already in the stirrup when he heard her stiff back her tears.

"A real gentleman does not shy away from a woman's tears," his mother's voice recited in his mind.

"What is it this time?" Rufus strode back to the girl, much to Mr. Sanders' dismay.

"My ankle."

"Looks twisted," Rufus poked it and got a swift punch in his arm as retribution. Wincing from the impact, Rufus turned to the group of men clustered behind him, "I need someone with a Curaga spell here."

A man rode up. "Sir!"

"Heal her ankle and set it," Rufus ordered and the man jumped to do as he was told. "You can't ride on your own with a busted ankle."

Yuffie pouted at his words and looked disgustedly at the metal city of Midgar. She didn't want to be locked in the confines of the polluted city.

"Get up," Rufus grabbed her from behind and hauled her up, half dragging the girl to his steed. The large bird was excited for the excursion and rushed to meet his riders, nearly shoving his face into Yuffie's whole body. "You're scaring her, you bird-brain. Yuffie, this is Cecil, my chocobo. Cecil, be nice."

Cecil gave a wark in greeting, to which Yuffie barely managed a nod from her previous shock.

"I have work. Get on or get left behind," Rufus said, knowing that she was already reaching out for the saddle. With Rufus' help and Cecil kneeling to make it easier, Yuffie swung her leg over the bird's back and settled into the seat.

"Now scoot forward as much as you can," Rufus shoved her none-too-lightly forward before leaping up himself. "Mr. Sanders, if you will."

"Move out!"

Yuffie gasped and leaned back into Rufus' chest as Midnight Sun started walking. Plodding along, it felt like a rope ladder in the wind.

"Have I mentioned I get motion sick?"

Rufus stiffened behind her. A silent pause and a hesitant, "no" followed. As a privileged boy, Rufus had little need to interact with others, let alone children a decade his junior. He had never held a baby before and certainly never had to deal with a girl who was prone to vomiting on moving transports.

"Don't you dare," Rufus warned the girl as he coaxed his bird into a smoother gait.

Yuffie kept her eyes closed and focused on not hurling her breakfast all over her arch-nemesis when she was completely dependent on him. They made frequent stops, since the ShiRa team was surveying the situation of the outer walls of the city. At those times, Yuffie stayed on Cecil, draped over the bird's neck in attempts to calm her queasy stomach.

Rufus spent more than a few worried glances to his chocobo. The last thing he wanted was the Wutaian princess vomiting onto his bird.

To his surprise, at the third stop, when he turned to check on his chocobo, he saw Cecil preening Yuffie's short hair from her prone position. Silently, Rufus hope that a severe peck would sneak in, but blood would be just as bad as vomit.

By the forth stop, Yuffie was petting the chocobo in return for the bird's affection. And by the fifth stop, Yuffie was sitting up, talking in a cooing voice to the animal.

"No, absolutely not," Rufus yelled, grabbing the bridle and stopping Yuffie from riding around in the lead of the flock of chocobos. "You are not riding around without permission."

"But Ce-Ce wanted to show me something," Yuffie whined, now best friends with the feathered bird, who warked his agreement.

"Ce-Ce?" the nickname almost choked Rufus. "Don't go around giving—You know what, you seem fine. Get off."

"No," Yuffie stuck out her tongue and let Cecil wander away as the company supervisor called for Rufus' attention.

"This is so much fun!" Yuffie whooped, arms stretched out to the sky as Rufus begrudgingly held on as his steed followed Yuffie's requests rather than his.

"Keep your mouth shut. I don't want you vomiting all over me," Rufus hollered into her ear.

"I'm not motion sick now. But if you mention it again, I might vomit if I think about it too much," Yuffie quipped lightly before returning to her joyous self.

Rufus sat silently. It was strange sitting behind a bundle of happiness. He had a horrible trip. First having to deal with Yuffie, which was always a pain. Then there was the long dullness of overseeing the survey. As a teenager, Rufus could think of a fair number of things he would rather be doing. He couldn't imagine how hard it was for Yuffie to deal with the day, and yet there she was, smiling like she wasn't in enemy territory, in the arms of her enemy.

Turning, Rufus saw some of the men had broken off to keep pace with the speed of Cecil, while the others kept at a regulated pace further behind. To his astonishment, Rufus saw traces of smiles on the men's faces as they enjoyed the speed and the rush. And Rufus knew that those men were able to smile because of the little girl laughing with happiness beside him.

* * *

"What are you laughing at, love?"

"Oh, I was just reminded about my first chocobo ride," Yuffie smiled at Rufus.

They were on a picnic with the Strife's and Cloud was currently hoisting his twins onto the backs of Yuffie's newest blue chocobos.

"I thought you were going to be sick," Rufus said, running his hand over the silky softness of Yuffie's hair. It was hard for him to believe that he had once despised the princess of Wutai. Now, he wouldn't trade her for the world.

"I did too. But thankfully Ce-Ce taught me the joys of riding," Yuffie leaned into Rufus' embrace. "I miss it."

"I know, love. But the doctor told you—"

"Yes, yes. No more riding. Safety, blah blah," Yuffie looked down at her growing belly. "But the baby wants to ride too."

"Not now," Rufus directed his voice to the growing baby. "Don't bother your mother."

Content in the moment, Yuffie let out a sigh and snuggled deeper into her husband's warmth.

"Yuffie?"

"Yes, Rufus?"

"That day."

"Hm?"

"What happened to your mother's materia?"

"What? Did you lose it?" Yuffie pulled away, shock written clear across her face.

"I went and looked for it. But I couldn't find it," sheepishly, Rufus looked down. He had checked his pockets when they returned to the company headquarters. That was when he realized the pouch with the low-level cure materia was missing.

"Oh, how sweet," Yuffie rocked to her tip-toes to give her husband a peck on the lips. But when she pulled away, there was a grin that held a secret. "Don't worry. I stole it back and have used it well over the years. It's actually the one I keep in the Conformer."

Rufus stared down at his wife. Surprising him at every turn was her forte. The materia that haunted him more than Holy and Meteor combined stared down at him every day from their entry way.

"I'm the Great Ninja, what did ya expect?" Yuffie smiled with a wink.

The End.


End file.
